They Knocked on an Atwater Door Saying They Were Cops. They Were ICE, Advocates Say

A handful of people were picked up by immigration agents in Atwater during the weekend, according to advocates and a witness.

The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, did not confirm the number of arrests from Sunday morning, but advocates for undocumented immigrants told the Sun-Star five people were picked up in deportation efforts in Atwater.

More than a dozen people were detained in Northern California, according to immigrant advocates from Bay Area-based Immigrant Liberation Movement. Some media reports said as many as 50 people had been detained through Tuesday.

Atwater resident Miguel Botello said ICE agents were inside Circle K on Shaffer Road around 7:30 a.m. Sunday as he and his three coworkers went inside to get coffee and other beverages. They all work in construction together and build houses in the county.

The agents left the store before the men, he said, and waited for them outside. Four ICE agents detained the four men and asked them “if we had permission to be here,” the 37-year-old told the Sun-Star in a phone interview.

“I told them that I did,” Botello said in Spanish. “They took my wallet and asked what I had.”

Botello has a green card and said an agent pulled it out of his wallet and “he laughed and asked if it was fake.” “I told him it was real and he laughed,” Botello said, adding the agents acted like bullies.

The other three men were taken away, and Botello said he wasn’t allowed to leave until the agents left. “I think people should know so they can see what’s happening and that it doesn’t just happen in big cities,” Botello said.

The incident at the gas station was an example of racial profiling because the agents didn’t appear to be looking for anyone specific, according to Lupe Delgado, an advocate with Faith in the Valley. “We are very upset. This is racial profiling,” she said. “Only because they had darker skin they were detained.”

The Supreme Court refused on Monday to fast-track the Trump administration’s directive for DACA to end next week, buying time for nearly 700,000 people like Hernandez who have received work permits and been temporarily protected from deportation through the program. About 18,000 people in Fresno, Tulare and Madera counties qualify for DACA. “You hear they’re working on a solution, but at the same time you see all the attacks and ICE raids here in the Valley, so you don’t know what to expect.”

SB 31’s passage sends an important message to our Muslim sisters and brothers about our love and care for them during a time of increasing vulnerability. People of faith across the state do not stand for the dehumanization represented by the federal administration’s attempts to create a Muslim registry or Muslim ban.

The American Civil Liberties Union of California (ACLU-CA) and local partner organizations today launched Hey, Meet Your DA!, a campaign designed to raise awareness about the powerful role district attorneys (DAs) play in the state’s 58 counties, and to increase accountability and transparency within the offices.

Faith in the Valley believes that by coming together as a region, we can leverage investment in our communities across the Valley, dramatically impact policies that benefit the most vulnerable members of our region, and build the power we need to make the Central Valley a place where all people can have safe and healthy lives.